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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29655501">muffins and midday meetings.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomsnthings/pseuds/fandomsnthings'>fandomsnthings</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Kids, Someday, Maybe? [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hatchetfield Universe - Team StarKid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Emma loves her family, F/M, Family Fluff, He loves his daughter, Paul is the best dad, i love them</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:01:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,070</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29655501</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomsnthings/pseuds/fandomsnthings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma and Paul's daughter gets an injury at the park, and, in an effort to make her feel better, Paul brings her to see her Mama at work.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Paul Matthews &amp; Emma Perkins, Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Kids, Someday, Maybe? [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1981244</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>muffins and midday meetings.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'm back with these babies. They're precious and I love them. </p>
<p>T/W- Brief mention of blood and injury.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Daddy, wanna walk!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was one of the odd Saturdays where Emma had to work, and Paul was left with his own devices to entertain Eloise. It was a nice day, once of the nicer ones since spring had begun; the flowers were finally blooming, the temperature had finally reached mid-50s, and the sun was out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They didn’t have a backyard, as they still lived in an apartment, but Paul wanted to get Eloise out of the house before forecasted rain came during the week. So, they had set off on a walk to Oakley Park downtown, which had a playground and a small pond that would entertain the child for at least an hour. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eloise had already ran around the playground, and so they were just walking around the paved paths that the park had to offer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You want to walk? Okay, but you have to stay close to Daddy, okay?” Paul said a little nervously as he pushed the stroller over to the side of the path so he could unbuckle the harness holding the child in the apparatus.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t like bringing Eloise out in public by himself. He was always scared that he was going to lose her, or someone would take her, or he would turn around for one second and she’d disappear. At least when Emma was with them, they had two sets of eyes on the child at all times, but it became more precarious when it was just one of them. Emma didn’t worry like him when she was out alone with Eloise, though; of course she was still careful, but she always told him that he could be irrational when it came to worrying about their daughter. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Still, he couldn’t shake it. He loved his daughter more than anything, and he didn’t know what he’d do if she went missing or got seriously hurt and it was all his fault. Having her in the stroller was easier, but she was now at a stage where she wanted to start walking everywhere. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He lifted the almost-three-year-old out of the stroller and set her on her feet, “You’re going to stay near Daddy, right?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Right!” She said enthusiastically, waiting for him to be behind the stroller again before beginning to walk in front of him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you, peanut.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had to smile as they leisured along the path, and she continually got distracted by bugs and flowers and the occasional squirrel. She giggled happily when a butterfly landed briefly on her nose, and she squealed happily when a bird took off into flight right next to her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She had such an innocent, pure view of the world. It helped both he and Emma to look at things on the bright side more often than they used to before she was in the world. He would protect that view for as long as he could. It was too precious to let slip away. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was taken out of his reverie when Eloise started skipping enthusiastically, getting an uncomfortable distance away from him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Eloise Jane!” He called, the slightest bit of urgency in his voice. He didn’t want to freak her out, “Wait up for me!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looked back at him over her shoulder, laughing, “Hurry up, Daddy! Flowers!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked towards where her tiny hand was pointing towards a planter surrounding the gazebo at the center of the park, which was filled with colorful flowers of all kinds. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I see the flowers but you gotta slow down so you don’t get hurt!” He said, beginning to speed up his walking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before he knew it, Eloise was tripping and falling over a stray stone on the sidewalk that she couldn’t have prepared for, as she was still looking over her shoulder at him. She landed with a smack onto the ground, and immediately started crying. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His heart dropped, rushing up to her and picking her up to survey the damage, “El, are you okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked her over, finding her unscathed besides a large red and bleeding scrape on her left knee. Eloise seemingly saw it too, her bottom lip trembling, “D-Daddy, my knee!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I see it, peanut, it’s okay! It’s just a scrape. Here, we’ll fix it up,” he said, carrying her to a bench and pulling the stroller behind him. He set her down on the bench and knelt down in front of her, grabbing the diaper bag out of the bottom compartment of the stoller and pulling out the first aid kit. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He grabbed a tissue, the antiseptic spray, and a bandaid. He squeezed Eloise’s hand gently, “Okay, baby. I’m gonna clean the blood off, and then I’m gonna spray it with the sting-y spray, and then I’ll put the bandaid on.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not the sting-y spray!” Eloise sobbed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sighed, his heart aching, “I know, buddy. I don’t like it either. But you’re my strong girl, I know you’ll take it like a champ!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I-I want Mama to hold my h-hand,” she sniffled heavily, beginning to suck on her thumb to get some semblance of comfort. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wish Mama was here too, but I have to do it now so your booboo doesn’t get worse,” he said, searching his mind for something that might make this better, “Hey, how about this. If you let me take care of your booboo, we can go see Mama at work, and maybe you’ll be able to get a muffin. Does that sound good?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eloise’s eyes lit up at the thought of seeing her mother, who she thought she wouldn’t get to see until bedtime. She nodded quickly, sniffling again, before stretching out her leg with a wince. She was quickly regretting picking out shorts to wear that morning; she should’ve listened to her Daddy, she thought. He told her that she would be cold (which she wasn’t, she determined), but maybe it would have stopped her knee from getting scraped when she fell. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you, buddy. You’re doing so good!” He said, trying to push down his discomfort at the sight of blood. This was something he signed up for when he became a father, he knew, but it didn’t make it any easier. He didn’t like blood in the first place, but he especially didn’t like it coming out of his little girl. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He took the tissue and patted away the blood lightly, trying his best not to hurt her. She only let him know if he had a couple of times, which made him feel good, but at the same time, made him feel awful. He wished he wasn’t hurting her at all. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, peanut, it’s time for the spray, okay?” He said with a sad smile. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She whimpered slightly but nodded, reaching out one of her little hands to clutch his free one. He squeezed hers back before spraying the antiseptic quickly, pressing a kiss to her knuckles as soon as she winced at the burning sensation. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He finished off the first aid session swiftly with a bandaid and a kiss to make it all better, and enveloped her in a hug once he was done, “There you go, El. You did so good!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sniffled against his shoulder, burying her face into his neck. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m proud of you,” he added softly, “Can I put you back in the stroller so we can go see Mama?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eloise pulled away from him slightly, her eyes big and wet as she wiped her tears with her fist. With a crack in her voice, she asked softly, “C-Can you please carry me, D-Daddy?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>God, those big blue eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They broke his heart. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He smiled slightly at her. She’d only be this little for so much longer. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, sure. Of course Daddy can carry you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>----</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, let’s go see Mama,” Paul said, slightly out of breath from carrying his daughter and pushing the stroller at the same time. He smiled at a passerby as they held the door open for him at Beanies.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The first person they were greeted by was Zoey, “Hi, welcome to Beanies- oh, would you look at that! It’s Emma’s family, how sweet.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She was standing by the register, and Emma was behind her, fiddling with the coffee machine, her back facing them. She turned around when she heard Zoey, her face brightening considerably when she saw them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you guys doing here?” She asked, studying them with slight surprise before she registered Eloise’s sniffles, “Wait, what happened?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We had an accident at the park,” he said, smiling sadly at her, “She wanted to come say hi.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“M-Mama?” Eloise said, lifting her head from his shoulder to find her mother. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey baby,” Emma said quickly, before turning to Zoey, “Hey, I’m taking my break.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I assumed so,” Zoey said, and for the first time, she didn’t sound completely sarcastic, feeling a bit of sadness at the sight of the sniveling child.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Emma took off her apron and hung it up on the hooks near the door to the back room before she stepped out from behind the counter to walk up to them. Eloise immediately reached out, and Emma didn’t hesitate to take her into her arms. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What happened, peanut?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“S-Scrape,” Eloise sniffled. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She tripped over a rock and scraped her knee. I got her all fixed up, and she was a champ, even though she was a little scared about the sting-y spray. Right, buddy?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eloise nodded slightly, “I-I be brave.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You were so brave,” Paul said, leaning down to kiss her head. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Aw, baby, I’m sorry you got hurt,” Emma murmured, kissing Eloise’s cheek lightly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I told her maybe she could get a muffin because she was so good,” Paul said, leaning down to peck Emma’s lips in a greeting. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, you’re a lucky girl, because we just got a new shipment of muffins this morning! They’re all fresh!” Emma said, bouncing Eloise slightly to get her to crack a smile. As soon as she did, Emma reached up to wipe her tears away, “There’s my favorite smile.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I-I wanted you to hold my hand,” Eloise said softly as Emma carried her over to the pastry display, “When-When Daddy put on the sting-y spray.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh sweetie,” Emma said sadly, “I’m sorry I wasn’t there. Did Daddy do a good job?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Y-Yes.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s good. Now, what muffin do you want, baby girl?” Emma asked softly, hitching the girl higher up on her hip. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Chocolate chip!” Eloise chirped, wiping the remainder of her tears away as she pointed at the biggest muffin in the cabinet. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was no one else in the shop, so Zoey came over and asked, “What can I get you, Miss Eloise?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey had a soft spot for the little girl. Emma couldn't be sure why, and every time she asked, the woman in question rolled her eyes and avoided the question. She remembered that Zoey mentioned teaching theatre to kids over the summers. Maybe that was it. Maybe she just liked kids. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Chocolate chip, please,” Eloise said, smiling shyly. Zoey sent her a smile back, retrieving the muffin Eloise had pointed out and handed it to her over the cabinet, “Tank you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re welcome, sweetheart.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Emma carried Eloise back over to Paul, who had sat down at one of the tables while he was waiting for them. She sat down in front of him, placing Eloise on her lap, “Go at it, El.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How’s today been so far?” Paul asked as Eloise dug into the muffin. He knew Emma hated working on weekends. She always told him that she didn’t like spending days that they could all be together as a family at her place of employment that she hated. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shrugged, “Slow. Not a lot of people come downtown on weekends.” Her voice lowered to a whisper so Zoey couldn’t hear, “I don’t know why we're open when the cost to even turn on the lights and make the first pots of coffee is probably more than we’re going to make during the day. It’s bullshit.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Paul sent her a glare and pointed at Eloise, a warning about her language. She rolled her eyes and waved him off, “Have you had a good day besides the obvious?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, El slept in a little bit, and then we had some waffles, and then we got on the road to the park. She talked to some other kids on the playground, which is always good,” he said with a smile. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eloise tended to be shy around kids and adults she didn’t know and usually didn’t take the opportunity to meet new people or make friends. Paul and Emma were grateful for that in a way, because that meant she wasn’t talking to strangers or people that could hurt her, but it wasn’t always ideal because it prevented her from interacting and socializing with kids her age.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Neither Emma nor Paul were anywhere close to popular in school and, a lot of the time, they didn’t have any friends there at all. They really didn’t want Eloise to have the same experience, as they knew the sinking, lonely feeling that came with it all too well and would never want the person that they love most in the world to ever feel the same. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Aw, that’s good!” Emma said, patting Eloise’s knee, “Did you make any friends, baby?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eloise just shrugged and mumbled around her muffin, “Played games.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah? Well, I’m proud of you for doing that! That’s brave!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eloise’s shoulders rose to her ears as she blushed, and Emma could help but press a kiss to the side of the child’s head. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They chatted for fifteen more minutes, Emma telling stories about some of the more ridiculous customers that she had encountered that day, and Paul telling her about how Eloise had eaten her share of waffles and then half of his own portion that morning, before Emma’s break was up and they had to part ways until that evening.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, Ellie Jane. Time to say bye-bye to Mama. She has to go back to work,” Paul said gently. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eloise pouted, but nodded sadly, looking up to her mother, “Miss you, Mama.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll miss you too, angel,” Emma murmured, kissing Eloise’s forehead, “I’ll be home in time for bath time tonight, okay? I love you.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Love you too,” Eloise said, stretching her neck to kiss her mother’s cheek in turn. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you think you can ride in your stroller home, buddy?” Paul questioned, standing up from the table. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah. My-My knee feels a little better,” Eloise babbled, hopping off of Emma’s lap and climbing into her seat. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh I’m so glad,” Emma said, leaning down to buckle the child into the stroller. After she did so, she turned her attention to Paul, “Do you want anything before you leave, babe?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He shook his head, “Nah, too late for coffee. Do you want me to leave dinner in the oven for you or are you going to pick something up on the way home?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Um, I can pick up pizza on the way home, if you guys can wait for me to eat. I think the little deserves a treat.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, yes, pizza!” Eloise exclaimed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Paul laughed, “Okay, that sounds good.” He leaned over the stroller to press a kiss to Emma’s lips, “Bye Em. See you later. Text me when you leave, okay?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, I will,” she hummed, “Bye little!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eloise waved with a smile, and with that, Paul left, pushing the stroller in front of him. She watched through the window as they walked down the street; something about Paul pushing the stroller made her heart warm. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once they were out of her sight, she let out a sigh and turned around to go back behind the counter. Once she had her apron on and had started organizing the pastries for what seemed like the hundredth time because it was such a slow day, Zoey spoke, “You guys are really sweet. I hope I have that someday.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Emma wanted to give a sarcastic reply, but she could tell Zoey was being genuine. She turned to the younger woman, her eyes slightly wide in surprise, “Aw, thanks. I’m really the luckiest girl in the world. And I’m sure you will.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, if I stop being such a bitch and fooling around with men twice my age that are apparently fucking married,” Zoey grunted under her breath, her eyes squeezing shut. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, that’s not on you,” Emma said quickly, closing the cabinet, “That’s on the assholes taking advantage of you. And you’re only twenty-three, Zoey. I didn’t really settle down until I had Eloise, and that was when I was thirty-one. Trust me, you can’t rush it. It’ll all fall into place when it’s supposed to.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey sent her a weak smile, “Thanks.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Emma nodded, returning the smile, before going back to try and figure out what piece of the stupid, constantly breaking coffee machine that they needed to order to fix it. As she fiddled with it again, she thought back to her little family. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She really didn’t know how she had found herself in this position, with a husband and a daughter and an apartment in Hatchetfield. More than that, she wasn’t sure how she had found herself </span>
  <em>
    <span>content </span>
  </em>
  <span>with this position. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After she graduated high school, she told herself that she was never coming back. She couldn’t be in the town any longer than she had to, not with her shitty parents and her superior-in-every-way sister. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But then, she did come back, and she met an amazing man, who she was still shocked had even looked in her direction when she was an asshole to most everyone but him, and they rather unexpectedly had a daughter that they loved more than anything in the world, who made every day an adventure. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She never thought she’d be a wife, or a mother, not in the least, but she loved it. She loved them. She didn’t know what she did to deserve them, but she wouldn’t question it in fear that the universe would change its mind and somehow take them away. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They were the best things that had ever happened to her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>God, I can’t wait to go home and eat pizza with them. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She turned to look at Zoey, who turned to her with a questioning look and a confused, “What?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Emma shrugged. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If I was able to hit the jackpot family-wise, then anybody can.”  </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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